Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to colleges for staff pay.

Further education (FE) colleges, rather than government, are responsible for setting and negotiating staff pay and terms and conditions within colleges.

In May 2025, the department announced a further £190 million investment for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers, in addition to the £400 million of extra funding we already planned to spend on 16 to 19 education in the 2025/26 financial year.

In October 2025, the department announced plans to go further in the 2026/27 financial year. From the Spending Review settlement, we will invest nearly £800 million extra on top of the original £400 million announced in 2025/26.

This significant investment will support the recruitment and retention of expert teachers in high value subject areas, and interventions to retain top teaching talent.

Targeted Recruitment Incentives of up to £6,000 (after tax) are available for eligible early career FE teachers working in key science, technology, engineering and maths and technical shortage subjects, in colleges, including in sixth form colleges. This is separate to teacher salaries.